At the time of the attack the hijackers had brought the tankers to a village and invited locals to syphon fuel from them. Germany defended the attack, saying the tankers might’ve been used to attack a nearby German base. President Hamid Karzai said the tankers were immobilized in a riverbed and asked why the international forces didn’t try to reclaim the tankers with ground troops instead. Germany has insisted the killings were appropriate. The Taliban also released their own probe, providing the names of 79 civilians.